Will Treece

Will Treece

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Will Treece grew up in Tokyo, lives in Detroit, and is currently a History major at Swarthmore College. Highlights of his life include playing in the Japanese National Scrabble Championship, his North Korea-themed 18th birthday party, and lip-syncing a rap about Poe's "The Ravem" in front of his entire high school. He'll be providing mental_floss with tasty historical tidbits this summer, and he really likes maps.

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Pimp Your Desk: Luxury Office Supplies

Embarrassed by your army-surplus desk chair? Tired of your second-hand pencil sharpener and bookends? Never fear! We're here to help you maximize the luxuriousness of your workspace. Graf von Faber Castell seems to have cornered the market on swanky pencils with "The Perfect Pencil." It's marketed as "the culmination of the history of the pencil," and is sold for a cool $240. The only other pencil I found that even comes close to that price is greatbigstuff.com's... READ ON

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The Number of the Day: 42,000

The number of tennis balls used at Wimbledon is roughly 42,000. Related Fact: According to The Telegraph, 1,540 gallons of cream consumed by Wimbledon patrons each year. Read more about Wimbledon here: Anyone for Tennis? 7 Wimbledon Questions Answered. [Source: More! Level 4 Teacher's Book (Volume... READ ON

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The Number of the Day: 300

The lowest recorded attendance at a World Cup game was 300, for Romania v. Peru in 1930. Related Fact: What's the highest recorded attendance, you ask? In 1950, 199,854 people watched Uruguay defeat Brazil in the final. [Source: ESPN... READ ON

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The Number of the Day: 18

Welcome to our new daily feature! Since we're borrowing the 'Number of the Day' concept from Sesame Street, we figured we'd start with a Sesame Street stat. Mr. Treece will be sharing fun stats all summer. There are 18 Sesame Street co-productions around the world, from Japan to Jordan to Kosovo. Related Fact: On South Africa's Takalani Sesame, "Bert speaks with a black South African accent and Ernie with a white one, sending a message of collaboration and harmony to post-apartheid South... READ ON

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Adam Cadre's Lyttle Lytton Contest

Thanks for the warm welcome, everybody! For my inaugural mental_floss post, I think I'll just direct everyone to one of my all-time favorite places on the internet. Most of you have probably heard of the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, awarded annually to the worst potential first line of a novel. Here's the 2009 winner: "Folks say that if you listen real close at the height of the full moon, when the wind is blowin' off Nantucket Sound from the nor' east and the dogs... READ ON

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